50T Investor Newsletter (Sep 1)

Hi Investors,

It was another fast-moving week in digital assets. From Washington’s first official use of public blockchains for GDP data to Google’s entry with its Universal Ledger, alongside major product launches from Aave, Gemini, and Jupiter, the industry is seeing real structural shifts. Below is your roundup of the most important developments.

Market Moves

Department of Commerce Publishes Q2 GDP Data Onchain, Partners with Coinbase & Kraken
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Google Cloud Announces “Universal Ledger” Blockchain for Banks & Payment Firms
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Trump Media Group Partners with crypto.com on $6.42Bn CRO Digital Asset Treasury

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Jupiter Launches Jupiter Lend on Solana, TVL Surpasses $465MM
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Aave Debuts Horizon - Institutional RWA Lending Market
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Gemini Rolls Out XRP Rewards Credit Card, Tops App Store Finance Chart
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CFTC Opens Registration Path for Offshore Exchanges to Serve U.S. Users

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Portfolio Headlines

	Animoca Brands Takes Direct Control of The Sandbox, Streamlining Operations for Turnaround → Link
	Helium sets ATH in mobile users while continuing deflationary tokenomics model  → Link

Charts of the Week

DeFi TVL in crypto has surpassed $500Bn, led by protocols and companies like Tether, Aave, Circle, Lido, and Sky, marking the highest level in history

USDC transfer volume and count on the Ethereum L1 hit all-time highs in July, with activity up ~300% since Jan ’24 lows ($748Bn volume, 8.3MM transfers)

Hyperliquid climbed to the #2 spot behind Binance for BTC spot trading on August 24, surpassing major CEX competitors in trading volume for the day

Industry News

Notable Raises

aPriori (Onchain HFT Infrastructure) — Raised $20MM from HashKey, Pantera, IMC, Gate Labs, and others
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Hemi (Bitcoin–Ethereum Layer-2) — Raised $15MM led by Republic, YZi Labs, HyperChain, with Breyer, Selini, and others
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M^0 (Stablecoin Infrastructure) — Raised $40MM Series B led by Polychain & Ribbit, with Pantera and Bain Crypto
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Rain (Stablecoin Card & Payments) — Raised $58MM Series B led by Sapphire Ventures, with Dragonfly, Galaxy, Samsung Next, Lightspeed, Norwest, and others
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The Clearing Company (Prediction Market) — Raised $15MM Seed led by USV, with Haun, Variant, Coinbase Ventures, and others
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Industry News

MoonPay Labs Invests in Rythm, Solana-Based Onchain Trading Platform
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Bitwise Files for First Chainlink ETF with SEC
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21Shares Files for Spot Sei ETF
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Stargate DAO Approves LayerZero Acquisition Despite Rival Bids
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Pudgy Penguins Expand Into Mobile Gaming with Launch of Pudgy Party
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Ethereum Foundation Unveils L2 Interoperability Framework
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Tether to Launch USDT on RGB, Expanding Stablecoin Support to Bitcoin
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MetaMask Introduces Social Login with Google & Apple Accounts
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Looking Ahead

Sept. 1: SUI to release 1.25% of its circulating supply worth $153.1MM

Sept 1: World Liberty Financial (WLFI) token will become tradable following a community governance vote

Sept. 2: Ethena to release 0.64% of its circulating supply worth $25.64MM

Media & Insights

📄 Research Piece of the Week: Bitwise
Ark Invest: DeFi Is Following The SaaS And Fintech Playbooks

📌 Tweet of the Week: Tad Smith
Dan Tapiero: Alt Season Ahead